Régis Le Bris has handed Thomas Meunier his full Sunderland debut as they begin the Premier League campaign at Portman Road on Saturday afternoon.
Meunier only played 45 minutes through the pre-season campaign after his World Cup commitments with Belgium, but has trained fully this week and looked in good shape against Ligue 1 side RC Lens a fortnight ago. Meunier’s selection means that Trai Hume will continue in the right-wing role that he finished last season.
Le Bris’s other major call is on the left wing, where Nilson Angulo gets the nod to start ahead of Chemsdine Talbi. Talbi is named on the bench alongside Romaine Mundle. The rest of the Sunderland XI is as expected, with Luke O’Nien ahead of Omar Alderete in the centre of defence. Alderete is on the bench having not played any football in pre-season due to a knee injury that he has now recovered from. Nordi Mukiele is also named on the bench having missed Sunderland’s final two pre-season fixtures with a knock.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Le Bris had heavily hinted the pair would not be ready to start: “All of our players are available, except Simon [Adingra]. We'll see for the game time against Ipswich because they are not all at the same stage fitness level wise, but they are available.”
As expected, Dayann Methalie is not included having completed his transfer from Toulouse on Friday afternoon.
Sunderland XI: Roefs; Meunier, Ballard, O’Nien, Reinildo; Xhaka, Sadiki, Le Fée; Hume, Angulo, Brobbey
Subs: Ellborg, Mukiele, Alderete, Isidor, Talbi, Diarra, Rigg, Mundle, Ta Bi
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Ipswich Town team news
As expected, former Sunderland winger Jack Clarke is named on the bench for the hosts. There are a couple of slightly surprising calls from Gary O’Neil, with Julio Enciso thrown straight in for his full debut having joined from RC Strasbourg earlier this week.
Florentino Luís, who had been expected to passed fit after his summer move from Burnley, misses out.
Sunderland team news explained as Régis Le Bris makes key calls for Ipswich Town opener
Sunderland team news explained as Régis Le Bris makes key calls for Ipswich Town opener